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The Promises of Stem Cell Research

Uploaded by sls465 on Apr 19, 2007

The Promises of Stem Cell Research

From the monks practice of reincarnation to the Native American medicine man, civilization have searched for loop holes to cheat death and have gone to spontaneous measures to improve life. Modern day medicine has saved the life of thousands and given even more a healthier way of living. However, throughout the course of history, the practice of healing has taken a drastic change from a once religious threshold to a more scientific one. People hold more faith in a needle then they do in Allah, Buddha or the Lord. There is no considerable fault in this until we begin to forget our roots, morals and beliefs. Ethics, the reflection of almost all religion, has become jeopardized in the sense of today’s breakthrough medical techniques, to be more specific, stem cell research. Stem cells are the foundation of life, which form in a human embryo four days following conception. Experts suggest that stem cells have the potential to enhance and even save lives, but at the expense of killing an already fertilized organ. Is today’s society willing to put their moral beliefs at risk, to potentially save the life of another?

There was a time when the word embryo was related to incidences such as fertility clinic mix ups, and cloning experiment. However, new technology raises a more ethical and political perspective around this comparatively trivial issue. Using spare embryos that were created with the intention of attempting to have a child, is somehow different from creating embryos with the intention of extracting their stem cells. For those who view embryos as human lives deserving of the same respect as a child, research that kills embryos is no more acceptable than would be research that kills adults.

The U.S. Roman Catholic Bishops oppose the research as “immoral, illegal, and unnecessary. They say that life is sacred from the moment of conception. The opposite perspectives are those who view embryos as a collection of cells similar to other human tissue, and research is acceptable and relatively uncontroversial. The Presbyterian Church USA approves the research when the goals are, “compelling and unreachable by other means.” Comparing to an abortion, which is legal in most states, embryos even farther along the line are being killed. However, these were...

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Uploaded by:   sls465

Date:   04/19/2007

Category:   Biology

Length:   3 pages (769 words)

Views:   3753

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